How many times did you watch it? Are you in to double digits yet? If the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer were on a tape, we would have snapped it by now. And yet, there are still so many questions we’ve left unanswered after repeat viewings, because of all of the amazing, WTF things that we spotted.
Run through our list of eye-popping, head-scratching Star Wars goodness with this thorough visual breakdown of the full teaser. The Force is awake. Is that good, or bad, for our favorite heroes?
Why is John Boyega wearing a Stormtrooper suit?
He’s the first actual person we see in the trailer (not counting the narrator’s voice that is heard). The way that he snaps into view plays along with the "waking up" theme of the trailer, and Boyega’s character looks distressed. But why is he wearing a Stormtrooper suit? Is he bad? Did he wear it to escape from somewhere, the way Han and Luke did in A New Hope?
Who is Daisy Ridley running from?
The characters in this trailer appear to be nervous. Upset. Distressed. Daisy Ridley has a look on her face that trouble is coming – and she wants to get far away from it. So she boards a land cruiser and scuttles across a planet surface that looks like Tatooine. It might also be the same sandy planet that Boyega’s character is on. I can’t tell what those ruins are at the end of the above GIF. Can you?
Droids on the roll
Yet another new character introduced in the trailer, and another "person" who looks like they are fleeing from the "Dark" that’s hinted at in the narration. While many thought that the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens would catch up with the familiar faces of Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill, the trailer instead leans on the fresh blood… like this rolling droid.
Oscar Isaac’s an X-Wing pilot
The trailer does its part to educate us on some of the sides the new faces will fall. While we initially thought that Adam Driver would play an X-Wing pilot (and he still may), it’s Oscar Isaac who we spy behind the controls of a speeding craft.
X-Wings take flight
Here’s where the gravity of J.J. Abrams using practical effects to build his Star Wars world began to sink in. This shot, of three X-Wing Fighters racing across the surface of a planet, looks nothing like the effects used in the prequel trilogies. There’s a size and a weight to the crafts in this trailer that oppose the lithe and lightweight aerial action of the prequels. Maybe it’s the way the water sprays up underneath the ships, or the mountains that act as their backdrop. But the sequence is breathtaking.
The Falcon takes flight
Speaking of "breathtaking," there are no words that can be expressed about the moment the narrator speaks about the forces of "The Light," and we get the above image of the Millennium Falcon soaring up, over and around us. We don’t know you who is piloting that bad boy. I’m willing to bet that it isn’t Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Or J.J. Abrams might have been tempted to show him off. But the Falcon is back in action, and it’s about to run into some trouble.
The Millennium Falcon takes on TIE Fighters
There’s a special sound that TIE Fighters make as they tear through the sky. You can hear it, briefly, when the Falcon levels off and gets its targets in sight. It’s all part of this incredible screengrab that Disney shared with us. I imagine this will be the desktop image on billions of laptops around the globe by this afternoon.
A new, and deadly lightsaber
Before we get into the "Light," the narrator – and who is that dude? – talks about how there has always been a battle between the Darkness and the Light. And the personification of the Darkness is the new villain of The Force Awakens. The emphasis of all conversation is going to be on his (or her) incredible lightsaber. And rightfully so. But there are other intriguing things to pay attention, including…
Where is this villainous figure?
On the first watch of the trailer, I thought this might be Luke Skywalker. This is before I’d realized that none of the original cast members were going to be in this teaser. But from what we know about Luke being in isolation and possibly wearing a cloak, I thought this could be Luke. And do you know what? It still might be, if Skywalker has succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force since last we saw him. But I think this is a new villain, who is occupying a frozen planet, and who has evil plans.
The updated Stormtroopers are incredible
The trailer spends more time focusing on the forces of the Empire than they do on the Rebel forces that brought he Death Star down. J.J. Abrams seems to be emphasizing the fact that even though the Rebellion succeeded in Return of the Jedi, the Galactic Empire is alive and well. Stormtroopers still patrol (as spotted above), and TIE Fighters still roam the skies. We need Luke, Leia and Han more than ever. Do you think they will show up in the next teaser trailer?! Abrams only knows.
